Planting a Seed in Their Heads
by Hungergames-divergentfan
Summary: This is the story of Ella from district twelve it's the fifth annul hunger games and she's terrified of being reaped, and leaving her father behind with no one. Watch as she makes mistakes, starts a spark has and gets it all blown up in her face. And learns that there's never real winners just survivors.
1. chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games or any characters associated with it. All rights go to Suzanne Collins.**

"I'm home!" shouted my dad. As he comes home from working in the coal mines. Well it's not really a home, more like a place to stay while we're waiting to die. For adults it's until they work to death or starve. For kids from the ages of twelve to eighteen starving is an option but the scarier one is getting reaped in the Hunger Games. That's what my life consist of waiting, hoping and going hungry.

My name is Ella. I'm sixteen years old and I live in district twelve, one of the poorest of the thirteen which once made up a country called America, which is now named Panem and is ruled by a vicious leader President Snow. Snow is the one who created the games were any child who is eligible can be reaped to participate. The Hunger Games are a gruesome show were children fight to the death for the Capitols enjoyment. It was originally to teach the thirteen districts not to rebel again; we couldn't rebel now if we wanted to we're all too weak from starvation and exhaustion. Tomorrow is the day our capitol escort Pearl will pull names from the glass bowl containing the names of all the eligible children in our district. I'm terrified my name will be the one she calls out to echo down the empty streets of the place I call home. The games have only been going on for four years so I can still remember a time were everything was perfect and I wasn't scared for my life everyday day.

I hate this world we live in and I'm disgusted by the people in the capitol who were supposedly loyal during the rebellion so now their children will be forever more safe from the games. They love the Hunger Games they dress up the tributes and parade them around. And place bets on who will win its sick really, and they're overly fake about everything. Everything about them is overdone-their hair, their makeup, and don't even get me started on the ridicules outfits they wear. But this is how everything works now and nobody gets any say.

It's just my dad and I now my mom was killed a few years ago after she talked back to the head peacekeeper and my sister was reaped in the first Hunger Games. So you can see where I get my hatred for the Games and the way things are. But we make do I go to school and cook and clean the house. My dad works in the coal mines, it's okay it's livable.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games or any characters associated with it. All rights go to Suzanne Collins.**

I wake up screaming "I volunteer as tribute".

My dad comes in running "Ella what's wrong" he asks "nothing"

I replied "just another nightmare nothing new" "okay" my father answered "night".

I sighed I had been getting nightmares ever since my sister had been reaped for the games. They were always the same me trying my hardest to save her sacrificing my life for hers, everyone knew she was the better sister the perfect one dad would have been better off if I had been reaped. My sister whose name was Lily was a perfect house wife destined to marry someone from town and have a better life then the people in the seam like us. And she would have been able to take care of my dad better then I could ever dream of doing.

My dad has been sick for a while now but we can't afford to treat him, he's supposed to take it easy and not work too hard but if he didn't then we wouldn't be able to survive. I always argue with him telling him to quit working in the mines because of his condition but he says it's no use because if he stopped working then we would both die from starvation. So I gave up arguing with him about it, he's is right no one wants to starve in the streets.

There's really no point in in going back to sleep now so I decide to go to the meadow. The meadow is calm peaceful place filled with flowers; I go there when I want to think or when I can't sleep. My sister and I used to go there all the time and play and sometimes we would have picnics there on special occasions. When I get there I find the two headstones that I placed there, and place newly picked flowers in front of them as I watch the sun rise I think about how today could be my last day here. I could get reaped today and then my chances of seeing this place again are slim to none. So every morning of the reaping I say goodbye to this place because I always like to be prepared.

When I get back home I start getting ready on reaping day everyone wears their good clothes because it's broadcasted to the capitol. But it's nearly impossible to get the layer off dust off that seems to cover everything in the district. As I arrive at the square were the reaping's are held I get my blood taken and ushered into to the section for sixteen year old girls. The mayor talks about how the Hunger Games represent how we are all united and how the great country of Panem rose up out of the ashes. Then Pearl our capital escort is walking across the stage and drawing the girl tribute's name. I hold my breath praying she doesn't announce my name.

Then my whole world comes crashing down "Ella Thompson" she announces.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games or any characters associated with it. All rights go to Suzanne Collins.**

I stand frozen in place for what feels like hours, before I realize she had called my name. I slowly make my way up to the stage everyone was looking at me they all wanted to see the girl who would be most likely dead in a few weeks. I tried to look strong I didn't want the other tributes to think I was weak.

When I get up to the stage I look out and can just vaguely see the meadow in the distance and I remember my morning there earlier and I'm thankful for the time I spent there saying goodbye. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't even hear her announce the boy tribute's name, and the next thing I know they're taking us into the justice building to say goodbye to our families.

As soon as I get into the room my dad comes rushing in, "You have to be strong" he tells me

"I'll try" I answer "but I'm probably not going to make it I don't have any skills that will help me".

"Then learn some" my father replied "you are a fast learner just look at how quickly you learned how to take care of the house and yourself".

After that he talks about how my mother and my sister would be so proud of the girl I grew up to be. It's all over to soon through and then the peacekeepers come barging in to take the only person who still loves me away, after that no one else comes to visit me.

Then I'm taken to the train which will transport me and the male tribute whose name I still am unaware of to the Capitol. As I board the train I take one last look at my home the place where all my memories are good and bad then a peacekeeper pushes me onto the train. Since district twelve hasn't had a victor yet the capitol choices someone to help us prepare for the games a mentor, this year it's someone who use to be in the military. Their usually really good at helping their tributes prepare for the games.

When I'm on the train I finally find out who the other tribute from our district is his name is West, he's a weak looking kid from the seam who can't be much older than thirteen and I feel bad for him because chances are like me he's never come back here again. But I'm happy he's not an old, strong boy from the town this makes the idea of me going home more possible although it's still a long shot. After we eat the fanciest meal I've ever laid eyes on with enough food to feed my entire district. We watch the recaps of the reaping from the other districts with our mentor Thomas and Pearl. The tributes from the other districts look pretty intimating I heard a rumor that said they've even started training kids in districts one, two and four to volunteer to go into the Hunger Games. After that I retire for the night in preparation for the big day ahead of me.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games or any characters associated with it. All rights go to Suzanne Collins.**

When I wake up the next morning, the sun is shining through the windows in my lavish room. I take a look around and see that someone has laid out clothes for me to wear today. There not that different from the clothes I see some of the merchants wearing back home. I try to take a quick shower but it ends up taking much longer then I wanted because I couldn't figure out how it worked, it once I got the water turned on it took me awhile to figure out the buttons in there they all seemed pretty useless to me there were at least fifty and I only needed soap. I could have stayed there for hours and still not have pushed them all, I don't though. Once I'm dressed I head out to the main part of the train to try and find the others for breakfast. When I get there, on the table is another feast of food. West is already there and looks up from his meal at me as I enter the room but he quickly looks down. Pearl with a giant grin on her face wishes me good morning in that ridicules accent of hers and tells me to join them for breakfast. As I sit down and try to figure out what to eat in the large display of food in front of me our mentor Thomas clears his throat and starts to speak.

"You two will have to come up with a strategy of how to present yourself to the capitol in order to get sponsors to increase your chances of winning."

"What strategies have worked well in the past?' I ask him

"Obviously none" West says angrily "how many victors have we had"

"Well there has only been four games," I remind him "and there thirteen districts so lots of places don't have victors and no district has one all the games so nobody has a fool proof strategy to fall back on."

Then just as Pearl opens her mouth to say something probably to tell us to stop bickering like children, we enter a dark tunnel West and I go to the window to see what's happen the tunnel we're in has a few flickering lights and a few doors that are hard to make out on the sides of the tunnel walls. Then the train emerges out of the tunnel and we get to see the Capital in all its glory for the first time.


End file.
